The Man Of Trails and Tails
by Nirv0rz
Summary: Chris and Jill plan on hunting down Oswell Spencer, with the help of his his former right hand man, who is in a high security insane asylum. Is he insane? Or just smart? Psychological. Chapter 3 is up
1. Good To See You Again

Summary.

Jill and Chris plan to pin point all of Umbrella's illegal bio-labs, by finding one of the Umbrella Corporations founders, Oswell Spencer. But the only source that may lead the pair to the Umbrella mastermind, happens to be the ex-right hand man of Oswell. His name is Edward Fielding, and he is currently locked up in a high security mental asylum. Edward agrees to talk to them, but many questions remain to be answered…

Is Edward really insane, or just a very smart man?

Was he put in the hospital for a reason, or was it Umbrella's work?

And most important. Can the ex-S.T.A.R.S members really trust him?

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The Man Of Trails and Tales.

Chapter 1 - Good To See You Again.

5:30pm Saturday, 5/3/2001

Location: New Hayes, USA

The young man stood by the large pane of glass, staring at the huge Boeing 747 plane that had just landed no more than five minutes ago. It was slowly moving off the runway, heading for the connecting tunnel so its passengers could get off . The man had short light brown hair that had been spiked up with gel, and sported slight stubble, a feature that had appeared due to the stress he had been suffering from lately. Chris Redfield, the former S.T.A.R.S member had changed since his life turned for the worst in 1998. Apart from the stubble that had grown around his chin and throat area, he looked very much the same as he did three years ago. But his personal life had changed dramatically, having no social life apart from the frequent phone call and e-mail from his comrades. Chris had one purpose in life, and that was to take down Umbrella, and only then would he be able to sleep comfortably at night.

It was spring, and the weather was colder than usual, which explained Chris's dress code of a long grey coat and denim jeans. He wore a pair of black framed Oakley sunglasses to somewhat hide his identity.

It wasn't long before the plane finally came to a halt outside the connecting tunnel, and already its passengers were emerging from the opening. Chris stood to the side of the door, watching as people walked past him. His eyes followed a little girl who was holding her mothers hand, a doll in the other as she skipped along joyfully, discussing how great it had been to see grandma. The people were clueless to what went on around them, in the real world. Chris would make sure that none of these people would ever have to experience or witness what he had.

Then, a woman stepped out from the opening, stopping only a few feet ahead, others brushing past her as she seemed to studied her surroundings as if she was looking for someone. She wore a leather jacket that had been zipped up, with matching trousers and shoes. Chris could only see the back of her short brown hair, until she turned around. Chris took off his sunglasses, and they instantly recognised each other.

"Jill…" The man whispered under his breath with relief as they both walked towards each other, hidden smiles beneath their faces. Chris extended his arms outwards to give her a hug. But Jill Valentine extended her hand instead. There was a small awkward pause until Chris put one arm down, and used his other to shake hands with his comrade.

"Chris. Its good to see you again." The young woman said to him, feeling the warmth of his hand as they shook. Chris nodded back to her, before both of them withdrew their hands.

Chris turned to walk, and Jill followed by his side, both of them keeping a steady pace.

"So you have new leads?" Chris asked her, as he slipped his sunglasses into his jacket pocket, both of them heading towards escalators.

Jill nodded, her eyes swaying from side to side, just as paranoid as Chris. "No, I have a plan instead.".

"A plan? I don't believe you came all the way here from Europe to tell me you have a plan, when all you could have done was e-mail me." He replied, as the pair of them stepped onto the escalator and kept walking down them, no time to stop.

"I have to be involved this time Chris, I'm sick of being just a scout for information. I do have a plan, a solid plan, but I need your help, and your contacts. If this works, then we can pin-point every single bio-lab that Umbrella are operating in.".

Chris didn't reply back, knowing Jill was right. The only way they could discuss it in depth was is if they were in a safe location. Chris lead Jill through the airport and towards the exit, both of them maintaining silence. Things were awkward between them, but who could blame them? They had both been through a lot, and hadn't seen each other in a few a years, only keeping in contact by phone and e-mail. Stress had changed the both of them.

The cool air hit them both as they stepped onto the street, a jeep already awaiting them. With weather like this, Chris used it as an excuse for his suspicious clothing. Reaching into his pocket and pulling out a set of car keys, Chris inserted them into the door of the large black vehicle. Whilst Chris sat in the drivers seat, preparing the cars ignition, Jill was already in the passenger seat and putting on her seat belt. When both doors were closed, Chris felt it was time to speak.

"So, in a nut shell, what's the plan?" Chris asked, as he revved the car.

There was a small pause of silence, followed by a sigh from Jill. "Umbrella is a monster. To kill a monster completely, you cut off its head.".

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Please Read: Okay, so If you have read the first chapter/pilot, then thank you very much, and I hope I might have interested you. I have not yet gone straight into the full storyline yet because I do feel that I need to show the strain on Chris and Jill's relationship. I will keep this story up to date frequently with new chapters, as long as I know that people are actually reviewing and giving me tips on my writing. I really appreciate reviews, tips, ideas and encouragement, and it is in fact the reviews that drive me to writing more.


	2. Your Coffee Sucks

The Man Of Trails And Tales

Chapter 2 - Your Coffee Sucks.

8:00pm Saturday, 5/3/2001

Location: New Hayes, USA

Jill waited patiently in the sitting room of Chris's apartment, sitting in a mouldy brown chair that was barely intact. The drive back from the airport was long, hitting heavy traffic in the city, but at least they managed to catch up on what they had both been doing in the few years that had passed. It seemed that the subject of bringing Umbrella down to its knee's had been consuming most of their time.

Looking around at her surroundings, Jill noticed that Chris hadn't had the time to unpack whatever was in the cardboard boxes stacked against the corner of the small room. The only things that had been set up was a small coffee table, chairs either side, and a desk against the paint scratched wall. On the desk was a laptop, and next to it was a coffee mug that looked like it hadn't been cleaned or used in days.

"Do you still take lots of sugar?" a voice came from the kitchen.

Jill smiled, before replying. "Just like old times."

It was good to see Chris again. But for some reason, she felt she couldn't let him know how grateful she was to see him after all this time. Her only reason, was so she could pretend that she hadn't been affected too much by what had happened. Jill knew she was acting quite cold towards Chris, but she had to make him think she was as tough as the others. She felt guilty for acting like this, but she was way to stubborn to change her ways.

Jill rubbed her arms, feeling quite cold in the damp room, drafts coming in from every crack in the doors and window frames. She was now wishing that she hadn't taken her coat off, leaving her in just a pair of leather trousers and white top.

It wasn't long before Chris came into the room, sporting his jeans and old S.T.A.R.S shirt, a cup of coffee in hand which he placed down on the table in front of Jill.

"Don't you ever turn the radiators on?" Jill asked Chris, who was making himself comfortable in the chair across from Jill.

"Heat costs money, which is very hard to come by when you are in my position." he said to her, shuffling himself into a sloppy position on the cushy chair, his legs hanging over one of the arms.

Jill didn't say anything, but instead picked up the cup of coffee, taking a sip of the thick hot liquid. Unknown to Chris, there was a slight smile behind that coffee cup. His cups of coffee hadn't changed. They tasted awful, but like old times, she found that she still couldn't refuse the offer of having one.

"So do you miss it?" Jill asked, nodding her head at his shirt.

Chris sighed as he stared at the S.T.A.R.S insignia on the right sleeve. There was a small silence, before he looked up at her, staring into her greyish eyes.

"The only thing I miss, is not having us all in the same room together. And that includes the dead ones.".

Jill nodded in agreement. "I know how you feel.".

There was an uncomfortable silence, Chris staring at Jill, whilst she looked down at the floor, drinking her coffee as an excuse to not talk.

"The past is no longer important. It happened, and we now know the truth about Umbrella. I believe its our duty to blow them open. So I think its time you told me your plan."

Jill agreed, placing her coffee back on the table and leaning back in her chair.

"Don't you think we are wasting our time by attempting to sabotage facilities that just get rebuilt over and over again?" She asked him, crossing her legs.

"Well its one less to worry about. When we succeed that is. But we can't do anything about that." he replied to her.

"Maybe we have been going about it the wrong way?" she asked him.

Chris raised an eyebrow, awaiting to hear of a better way. But Jill expected it from him. After all, he was always considered the mans man, strength and weapons, where as she was always more cunning, and knew there was always more than one way to skin a goose.

"Swap explosives for camera's. Instead of blowing these places up, what if we got photographic, or video evidence of these places? I know a woman called Alyssa, who has had her own run ins with Umbrella, I'm sure she could put the footage to great use…"

Jill was soon interrupted by Chris.

"That's a good idea and all Jill, but we have no recent leads to Umbrella. We can find employee's with ease, but they are always kept in the dark, and the ones that do know about the bio-weapons are just pawns that barely know their own locker combinations."

Jill nodded with agreement, but a smile at the corner of her mouth suggested that she still had an idea.

"So what your saying is, the only people we can get to are Umbrella employee's. But they never know enough information, right?" she asked him.

"That's right."

"Well, I have an idea of someone that could update us on everything about Umbrella."

Chris suddenly sat up in the chair, intrigued with what Jill was saying.

"Wait there." She said to him, standing up from her chair as she walked over to the front door, where she had dumped her luggage bag.

Jill felt proud, knowing that she was a part of the team. It was always Chris, Barry, Leon and Claire actually doing something. But now, Jill had contributed, and better yet, it could be her idea that would bring down the corporation that ruined and ended the lives of so many.

Chris watched as Jill rummaged through her black duffel bag, until she finally brought out a plastic clip-bag, the type that they used to use in S.T.A.R.S for bagging evidence.

He watched her as she walked back over, sitting back down in her chair, slowly opening the bag, carefully. It looked like a book of some kind, and she was treating it as if it were a relic, being careful not to damage it. As he had thought, it was a book, with all the pages ripped out. She placed the velvet covered green book in front of him, and he studied it. He sighed as he read the writing on front of it, already understanding her plan.

Diary of Oswell Spencer

Chris cleared his throat, feeling quite let down, and disappointed with Jill.

"Oswell Spencer…one of the founders of Umbrella, and almost definitely died in the Spencer Mansion incident, Jill. How did you manage to get this?" He said to her, as he picked up the book to study.

"I have my contacts too." She said, grinning at him with pride, taking no notice to what Chris had said.

"Still doesn't change the fact that he is dead. Dead men can't talk Jill, and they are even harder to find after being infected with a virus, and finally blown to kingdom come." He replied to her, opening up the diary, to see nothing but torn paper inside.

"Check the back of the book, the writing." She said to him.

Chris looked at her with curiosity, before flipping the book over and staring at its green velvet hard back, and gold writing at the bottom. He read the writing, but could not find anything of interest. Again, he read it, but he couldn't see what Jill wanted him to see.

Jean Fruiar Handmade Diary', 1999 Publishing.

Then, it clicked. Chris froze as he soon realised that Jill was right, and that Oswell Spencer was still alive. Jill had noticed Chris's expression, and she knew that her plan was going to work.

"That's right Chris. We were in the Spencer Mansion in 1998. That book wasn't even made until a year later."

A smile grew across Chris's face, and he suddenly felt a rush of excitement through his body.

"Lets get him." Chris said to Jill, slamming the book back


	3. Good News, and Bad News

The Man Of Trails and Tales.

Chapter 3 - Good News, and Bad News

10:45am Sunday, 6/3/2001

Location: Glasgow, Scotland.

Far across the other side of the world, within a small cottage, Barry Burton was typing away on his computer. The middle aged red head had been watching last nights soccer, when he had received a phone call. Back in the United States, Barry loved watching the NFL, but since moving to his current location, he had to find a new sport to enjoy, which was the great British football. Although it was much different to the sports he was used to, he was beginning to thoroughly enjoy it.

The phone call had been from his more than good friends, Chris and Jill. They talked for quite a while, and for a good few minutes it seemed as if their lives were normal, discussing where they were now living and how they were getting on. But then came the favour that Chris wanted to ask for, which Barry had expected. After they had explained about Spencer and his diary, Barry agreed to get information on Spencer. So he did, by conducting a web search, which seemed to only bring up news on the finding of Umbrella by Spencer, and an Ashford.

After a lot of unsuccessful attempts of finding any useful information, Barry had decided to call in for some of his own backup. Being an ex-S.T.A.R.S and S.W.A.T member, he had made some important friends over the years, one of those being a still active CIA Agent. So after haggling with him for a while, he finally gave in to Barry's demands of finding anything useful on Oswell Spencer, whether it was his location, family, or credit card information etc. The agent had fulfilled his promise, by sending Barry an e-mail the next day.

"Come on you piece of crap, give it to me already…" Barry muttered to himself as he gazed at a small message on the screen that indicated his download was 90.

Barry had received the e-mail fifteen minutes ago, but attached to it was a big file, so uploading it was taking its time. He just hoped he would be able to sort and send it to Chris in time, since his family was flying in to visit him for the first time in two months.

11:13am Sunday, 6/3/2001

Location: New Hayes, USA.

Opening one of the kitchen cupboards, Jill reached in and pulled out a coffee mug. She was in the kitchen, which was way too small for her liking. Jill wasn't exactly a great cook herself, but there was hardly anything in the counter drawers, and she could have sworn she saw a cockroach peeking out from under the refrigerator. It was like being back at college again, she thought, grinning to herself.

Fresh out of the shower, Jill was wearing a white cotton gown that she had brought with her, with one of Chris's towels wrapped around her hair in a turban. She was tapping on the side of the mug with her fingernails, waiting for the coffee machine that was on the counter to finish pouring its hot contents into the round glass jug beneath it.

She had felt slightly guilty in taking Chris's bed and making him sleep on the couch, so she thought she would surprise him with a good cup of coffee. He was in the living room next door, and she could hear him moaning about something he was downloading on the laptop.

"Damn Hotmail…" She could hear him whining, which brought a smile to her face. It reminded her of their time in S.T.A.R.S together. Chris never got along with Computers, and it was usually Jill's job to do anything remotely technical.

Meanwhile, Chris was sat at his desk in the dark with the curtains drawn, the only light being emitted from the laptop screen. He was still dressed in last nights clothes, not bothering to change. Chris had not been awake long, and was still half asleep as he stared at the screen, a dim light glowing across his face. As soon as he had awoken, he heard the shower running, naturally assuming Jill was in the bathroom. Wasting no time, he had hopped onto his desk chair, checking for an e-mail that he had been expecting. As usual, his good friend had not let him down, not unless you included the big ass file that came with it.

When the download had finally completed, Chris opened the e-mail, and began reading its contents.

--

Hey Chris, I did that favour you asked me. I've got good news, and some bad news.

I had one of my contacts do a search on Spencer, and I'm sorry to say that nothing came up. But I guess we should have figured that he would be well hidden. Well that's the bad news, but the good news is, my contact found a strong link, who could provide us with information on Spencer, or even the locations of valuable Umbrella Bio-Labs. From what I read, he was Spencer' right hand man. But there is some more good and bad news. The good news is, this guy is situated only twenty three miles from where you are, the bad news is, and get a load of this.

He is in a Mental asylum.

But don't worry about that, I've had someone nearby arrange a way for you to get in there, you'll find out later. I would have searched through all this information myself, but my family is coming over. Sorry, but my family comes first, you should know that…

Anyway, within the file is a crap load of information on this guy which you can check out. Good luck Chris, and please don't leave it too long before we talk again.

Regards, B.B.

PS: Look after Jill.

--

Chris sighed to himself. Barry did the best he could, and although he felt that they took a step backwards, he also felt they took half a step forward. He had mixed feelings on the idea of this new lead which he would have to discuss with Jill.

"Good morning." a familiar voice said.

Looking over his shoulder, Chris could see that Jill had somehow managed to walk into the room and sit down on the chair without him noticing her. But then again, she was a former cat burglar, and a pro at stealth.

"Hey Jill. Did you make me one?" He asked her, staring at the coffee she had placed on the table in front of her.

"Yes, this one." She said, pointing at the one he was eyeing up. She crossed her legs, and gave him a warm smile. He couldn't help but notice she had became a lot nicer since their plan became official the previous night.

Chris thanked her before standing up and heading over to the chair opposite her. He sat down in it, before reaching over the table and sliding the coffee towards him, whilst his eyes secretly trailed along Jill's bare legs.

"I got an e-mail back from Barry. Do you want the good news first, or the bad news?" Chris asked her, taking a sip of coffee whilst she replied.

"Its too early for bad news. What's the good?" She asked

"Well…" He said, putting the coffee mug back down on the table before continuing. "The good news is, Barry sent us a lot of information. In fact, there is so much information that my laptop can barely handle it all.".

He watched as Jill's face lit up with joy. But sadly, he had to break the bad news to her.

"But the bad news is, its not about Spencer. Instead, its about Spencer's right hand man. Read the e-mail Barry sent me." Chris said, as he pointed at the laptop monitor.

It hardly been two minutes before Jill had finished reading the e-mail Barry had sent. She was sitting in Chris's computer chair, with him standing behind and leaning over her, still drinking his coffee.

"I think we give this guy a shot." She said, finally break the silence.

"I'm very sceptic on this Jill. I mean, the guys a nut. How are we supposed to extract anything useful from him?" Chris asked her. Jill could tell that Chris wasn't up for the idea, but she also knew they were desperate for a lead.

"We have to give it a chance. This file that Barry has given us, it's a Winzip file. That means within this one file, is crap load of other files, probably full of information on this patient. I'll tell you now Chris, that I am going to do this, with or without your help.". She had a look of determination on her face. Jill knew she had a purpose, and that purpose was to expose Umbrella, or bring them down with force. She was going to take every chance she got.

There was a small silence, before Chris spoke.

"I'll help you on one condition."

Jill raised an eyebrow, awaiting his proposition.

"We go out for breakfast, because I'm starving, and if you have been in the kitchen then you will know that there is nothing edible." he said, rubbing his stomach.

Although Jill wanted to stay serious, she couldn't help but break into a smile, and she even let out a small laugh. "Okay, lets go out for breakfast. I haven't eaten a thing since yesterdays flight."

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Note: Okay, so now I promise that the storyline will now start moving along to the actual point of the story. I must apologise if there has been bad grammar, spelling or confusion in sentences as my human wordcheck is too tired to work. Thumps the fiance

Anyway, thank you for reading, and please review.


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